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OriolesRedskins28 wrote:That being said if they could keep him for $3 million for another year it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world

In a platoon situation. That would maximize his splits and protect us against another of his long cold spells. His ability to handle throws around the bag is above average. His range is not. He's an average OVERALL defender at best.

ofahn wrote:Maybe, but the more logical answer is that he's just being himself. A pure streak hitter.

Sarcasm is hard to detect over the internet haha. I'm his biggest critic, but as much as I hate saying this... do we even have a legitimate first base option in 2013 if we don't resign Reynolds (assuming we don't pick up that hilarious option of his)? Davis might actually be worse defensively and Betemit has proven that he can't be trusted with a starting job anywhere.

DashingDave314 wrote:Sarcasm is hard to detect over the internet haha. I'm his biggest critic, but as much as I hate saying this... do we even have a legitimate first base option in 2013 if we don't resign Reynolds (assuming we don't pick up that hilarious option of his)? Davis might actually be worse defensively and Betemit has proven that he can't be trusted with a starting job anywhere.

Matt P wrote:That 0.3 WAR you keep bringing up also includes his horrible 3B play last season. His oWAR last season was 2.9 according to Baseball Reference. How exactly is he extremely streaky? He usually starts off bad then picks up for the rest of the season before tailing off in September. Plus, his September stats are messed up because he played the entire month one season when he was hurt and had no business playing.

I would call that streaky... The games in the first couple months of the season where he is a BLACK HOLE in the lineup count toward the team's final record too so you can't just write them off because he's a slow starter.

I seriously doubt it would be that hard to replace Reynolds with a cheaper more consistent first baseman. There are plenty of possibilities out there through FA and trades.

I would call that streaky... The games in the first couple months of the season where he is a BLACK HOLE in the lineup count toward the team's final record too so you can't just write them off because he's a slow starter.

I seriously doubt it would be that hard to replace Reynolds with a cheaper more consistent first baseman. There are plenty of possibilities out there through FA and trades.

Again, a black hole doesn't work the count and draw as many walks as Reynolds does. A black hole is someone like Luke Scott or Chris Davis who go down on 4 pitches or less 90% of the time when they are cold.

I'd be happy with a platoon with good splits as long as both players are solid defensively. I could even live with Reynolds as the RH part of that since he would get the smaller amount of playing time at 1B. I don't see him as accepting that role at this point in his career.

Matt P wrote:Again, a black hole doesn't work the count and draw as many walks as Reynolds does. A black hole is someone like Luke Scott or Chris Davis who go down on 4 pitches or less 90% of the time when they are cold.

Who are you replacing him with that is cheaper and more consistent?

A black hole strikes out in over 30% of his plate appearances and while he may walk in around 10-14% of his plate appearances during his slump, the vast majority of the other 85+% of the plate appearances are completely unproductive.

I don't have every MLB organization's depth chart so I can't name all of the possibilities when it comes to trades but some of the options would be:

-Lyle Overbay has pretty good splits against RHP and by most accounts is a much better defender than Reynolds.-According to MLBTR Lance Berkman should be available and while he's injury prone and old he can still rake-Carlos Lee will be available and could be part of a platoon at 1B/DH w/ C Davis and Betemit-Of course Swisher and Napoli will be available although neither seem like reasonable fits for the O's

Nobody can predict the trade market for either veteran players or near ML ready prospects who can play first base so trying to name a potential trade target would be both foolish and unnecessary. Needless to say there are plenty of options to fill the need at first base and Reynolds is one of them but he is lower on my list and would only be desirable on a cheap deal with partially limited at bats.